Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

My little retic will only take live mice and I wanted to make the switch to frozen thawed or prekilled rats. How should I scent them? Should I just pick up a mouse and rub it all over a small rat? Or do I rub some mouse urine on the rat or...??? Any suggestions? Thanks!

-Lydia

PS Should I start with a "Primer", feed with a live mouse and then the rat? Sorry for the long post but, it's just my retic will only take a live adult mouse after a few hours in the cage. I'm usually very very nervous b/c I know the risks involved in feeding live. Thanks

Hey Lydia, what's been up ?
Try a live rat pinkie or pup a couple of times and they should go to p/k or f/t from there ... good luck !

How've you been? Haven't talked to you in awhile. How are those Sulawesi's of yours doing? Well, my little retic is a picky eater. She doesn't have that "garbage disposal" eating characteristic. I throw in a f/t mouse and she avoids it. She only took a live ONCE! Well, nice talking to you again. See you around.

-Lydia

Have you tried feeding something live to him and then following it up with a f/t item..it has worked for me with my little tiger when i was switching her over, it worked well enough, especially since they are in food mode at that point, when trying to get her on f/t she would just strike and strike with it, she doesn't always take it and coil it from me, so i leave it with her while its warm, and she takes it in her own private way i guess, but as long as she is eating im happy..good luck on switching yours over to rats, you really see them start to grow when they are on rats too..

My little retic avoids those f/t mice. When I throw them in she acts as if she is disgusted and she avoids them. Only did she take a live mouse once! The problem is, she only took it when I left the live mouse overnight. When I awoke it was gone, and when I tried to follow up with a f/t mouse or rat, her feeding response was gone too. So this is kind of a problem for me... Thanks.

-Lydia